A new Apple patent reveals the Cupertino company’s exploration of bone conduction noise cancelling technology that could make its way into future EarPods. Apple explains how the technology could be used to improve voice communications.

The new patent, published this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, is entitled “System and method of improving voice quality in a wireless headset with untethered earbuds of a mobile device.” Within it, Apple describes a system that uses bone structure for improved communication.

“Unlike traditional audio-based noise cancellation systems, Apple’s version accounts for noise and wind level detected by internal earbud microphones and combines that information with accelerometer output, battery level and earbud position data,” explains AppleInsider.

Apple system is capable of monitoring two audio sources uses multiple microphones embedded into the earbuds, then using noise cancelling to block out background sounds. It also uses accelerometers to detect vibrations passing through the users vocal chords and bones as they speak.

By combining all of these things, Apple can isolate the user’s voice and more efficiently block out the noises around them. This would allow both them and the person they are talking to on the phone to hear their voice better.

Apple’s system is also capable of detecting when an earbud is in a user’s each, then adjusting voice output accordingly, so that it is only played through the earbud in use.

Evidence of Apple’s investigations into bone conduction technologies first appeared in a patent last September, but we’re yet to see it make its way into an Apple device. As with all patents, this is not a guarantee of things to come, but rather a glimpse into the things Apple is working on.